The Imaginary
Now on Netflix
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Rudger is Amanda's best friend. He doesn't exist, but nobody's perfect.
Only Amanda can see her imaginary friend – until the sinister Mr Bunting arrives at Amanda's door. Mr Bunting hunts imaginaries. Rumour says that he eats them. And he's sniffed out Rudger. Soon Rudger is alone, and running for his imaginary life. But can a boy who isn't there survive without a friend to dream him up?
A brilliantly funny, scary and moving read from the unique imagination of A.F. Harrold, this beautiful book is astoundingly illustrated with integrated art and colour spreads by the award-winning Emily Gravett.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Echoes of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Toy Story can be detected in Harrold's (the Fizzlebert Stump books) eerie standalone fantasy. Creative children like Amanda Shuffleup can fashion imaginary friends like Rudger, a boy who unexpectedly manifests in Amanda's wardrobe one day. Most of the time adults don't see a thing, but then there are sinister strangers like Mr. Bunting, whose moustache hides a terrifying maw designed to gobble up imaginaries even though Mr. Bunting seems to have an imaginary companion of his own. As if this weren't bad enough, Rudger is threatened by Fading slow, silent erasure caused by a child's forgetting when Amanda is injured in an accident. The intervention of Zinzan, a wise old alley cat, provides a temporary refuge, but Rudger can only overcome his plight by asserting his own memory and vision. Part horror story, part gentle parable, Harrold's story moves along at a steady clip, thanks to some very tense sequences and Gravett's typically polished illustrations, which feature spikes of lurid color and haunting imagery. Ages 8 12.
